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Photograph of Nigel Gray building his boat in his garage

Nigel Gray

Nigel belongs to: The Coble and Keelboat Society

Nigel was born near Hexham. He has always been interested in traditional boats and has operated a variety of wooden boats for commercial and recreational purposes. He has recently built his own boat in his garage using traditional tools and techniques.

Nigel was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 13 November 2005. The interview took place at the Interviewee's living room and lasted 34 minutes and 25 seconds.

Photograph of Nigel Gray building his boat in his garage
Photograph of Nigel Gray building his boat in his garage

Sound of caulking

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"Right, what we’re doing here is caulking the stem seam where the planks meet the stem to make the forward end of the boat watertight"

Right, what we’re doing here is caulking the stem seam where the planks meet the stem to make the forward end of the boat watertight. And what I’m doing is I’m pressing in, lightly at first, some strands of cotton which are bone dry. The idea being that they be pushed in half tight and then what’s called hardened off. The idea of this is so that the caulking actually swells even further when exposed to water in the seam and making the boat watertight by that means.

So the first strikes of the mallet are what’s called nipping in the cotton or knifing it in and then the later strikes, which should sound a bit different, are what’s called the hardening off so the cotton is driven tight into the seam and below the surface of the planking so that it can be covered over with putty afterwards.

So the first little strike of the hammer should be a bit softer.

(hammering sounds)

And here we are, I’m just knifing in, as it’s called, a little loop of cotton. The idea is that you can vary the amount of cotton that’s going in the seam to adjust itself to the width of the seam because there’s fractional variations. So I’m putting a loop in there half an inch at a time. So that’s just working around now the bottom end of the stem in towards the planks that go beneath the waterline of the boat.

(hammering sounds)

Now this just at the turn of the forefoot is probably the most important part of the caulking because it’s the part of the boat that’s underwater the most and is also subject to some of the most stress as well, so I’m kind of putting in just a wee bit more into this particular part of the seam.

Right, we’ve driven the first strands of caulking in in a loop fashion into the seam at the forward end of the boat, which is the stem where the bow of the boat where the planks meet the stem. Now, to make that watertight the cotton that’s been driven in needs to be hardened off. So the first strikes that you heard are actually the cotton going in quite loose to hold it in position. And what I’m going to do now is harden it off and that is drive it deep into the seams beneath the surface of the planking so you can putty it up later. So here we go…

(hammering sounds)

Now you should notice a difference in the note. What you hear now is a deeper, a deeper ring as the mallet hits the end of the metal caulking iron because the mallet’s made of hard wood. That’s something falling inside the boat, which is a regular occurrence, things like that often happen!

(hammering sounds)

The trick is to put just enough in but not to overfill the seams. What can happen is the caulking can get pushed out the seam altogether as the boat expands in the water.

I’m just going to change irons to what’s called a jerry iron. A jerry iron is a narrow iron to get a rounder curve, which is narrower, a bit more like a screwdriver and forces the cotton into seams which are around a curve or in an awkward place to find.

(hammering sounds)

That’s just hardened off there nicely.

(hammering sounds)

I think, I’ve just about…

(hammering sounds)

That’ll do nicely that!

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Skills | Sounds and Smells | Traditions

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